UFC app Archives

In the days preceding Memorial Day weekend, the Ultimate Fighting Championship began to trickle out old videos on its YouTube channel. It’s not uncommon for the UFC to release years-old fights that tie into a given weekend’s events to drum up excitement, but these were unique. This batch reaches back decades and has basically no newsworthiness at all; instead, it provides a blemishes-and-all look at the start of the organization that's nearly synonymous with mixed martial arts. Dispensing with all the customary hype and posturing, it's a crash course in the product: the fights themselves.

The UFC says it's dropping these videos to supplement UFC 25 Years in Short, its 2018 release of 25 short-length documentaries. “In addition to UFC 25 Years in Short, we are releasing relevant content on YouTube, including previous fights that were exclusive to UFC Fight Pass,” UFC Senior VP Chris Kartzmark, of Production & Programming, told VICE. “These additional videos add context for fans hearing these stories for the first time.”

Context is helpful but ultimately unnecessary; even without the accompanying shorts, the fights are a time capsule to the sport’s early days, and hopping from the 90s to the 00s to the present provide fascinating visual proof of how both the sport and the athletes themselves have changed.

If you’re new to the sport, consider these five vintage fights a primer. While lacking the veneer and production value of the modern day, these snapshots show a sport in flux, heading toward a brighter future. They are the blocks upon which the UFC was built, even as they’re worthy of their own extended footnote.

On November 12, 1993, in Denver, Colorado, the UFC held its inaugural event, and kind of like the first few pancakes always are, at times it was a little lumpy. The concept of tapping out was new, and sometimes referees missed it. The eight participants used no protective handgear (it would be another four years until the practice was mandated). Finer rules, which would prohibit stomping opponents in the head, groin shots, and hair pulling, were still years away. It felt like a free-for-all and only loosely regulated, but even then, its concept of pitting style against style was captivating. Royce Gracie, its eventual winner, showed that elegance could easily best brute strength, and his Brazilian jiu-jitsu (itself a modern adaptation of a heritage Japanese martial art) submitted fighters with greater striking power, bigger muscles, and more traditional backgrounds of boxing, wrestling, and classic martial arts. Gracie would be one of the first elected to the UFC’s Hall of Fame in 2003 , while his BJJ, as it’s abbreviated today, continues to dominate the sport and is a pillar of modern mixed martial arts.

Gracie proved with his UFC 1 title and subsequent wins in 2 and 4 (both in 1994) that even the biggest and strongest fighters were vulnerable when brought to the ground. His competitors—and the world—were racing to catch up, none more than Ken Shamrock, a U.S. fighting journeyman who had previously participated in early mixed martial arts matches in Japan and fought Gracie twice before, once ending in Shamrock's submission and once his withdrawal. Billed the “Superfight,” the pair’s stand-alone match headlined UFC 5. The match was tactically interesting but visually boring; after a 30-minute stalemate on the ground, event organizers scrambled to create new rules, adding a five-minute overtime period. In the end, judges concluded the match a draw; in actuality it represented a victory for Shamrock. Initially surprised by Gracie’s ground fighting, Shamrock—and the world—was learning, and the result demonstrated that the playing field was being leveled with each successive year.

Dothan, Alabama, is an unlikely place for many things, including the UFC, but also Joe Rogan. Rogan, who now gets high with Elon Musk, was two years into the NBC sitcom NewsRadio and had a full head of hair when he first debuted his color commentary and athlete interviews. Beyond this, however, the event also saw the debut of Vitor Belfort, who could arguably be viewed as the prototypical athlete of modern MMA. Built like a brick house but with lightning-fast movement, the 19-year-old's dominance over his opponents and win of the heavyweight tournament effectively ended the early era of Toughman-style softbody brawlers and lithe grappling specialists. The first truly well-rounded fighter would go on to win the future light heavyweight title.

After years of small markets and smaller profits, the UFC was on the verge of folding when brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta and partner Dana White purchased the whole shebang for $2 million in 2001. They restructured, reorganized, and began to nurture future stars like Matt Hughes. The Illinoisan had the pedigree—a NCAA All-American wrestler who parlayed his on-mat skills to the octagon—but he still entered the ring with welterweight champ Carlos Newton as the underdog. Caught in a submission, Hughes lifted Newton over his head, slamming them both to the canvas and knocking Newton unconscious. It was a slam heard ‘round the world, making Hughes into an overnight legend. He would also forge a new path that other high school and collegiate wrestlers, long stymied by the archaic Olympics system, would follow.

While Hughes and others would establish cult followings, it was Chuck Liddell who would take the organization to the next level in terms of superstar influence. Liddell’s upset of then-champ Tito Ortiz in Las Vegas launched the Californian as the first MMA crossover star. He would appear the cover of ESPN The Magazine, and his notoriety is such that his IMDB, which includes appearances on Entourage and The Simpsons, often credits him as portraying himself. Future stars like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey arguably eclipsed his level of recognition, but Liddell was the first UFC superstar.

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The UFC and ESPN jointly announced this afternoon that ESPN+ will become the exclusive destination for and distributor of the MMA company’s pay-per-view events. The seven-year deal expands on the partnership between UFC and ESPN’s standalone streaming service, which replaced Fox Sports as the home of UFC Fight Night earlier this year. ESPN+ already streamed preliminary matches for UFC pay-per-views under that deal, but now it’s becoming the central go-to for everything. UFC handles all production of its own events, but Disney hopes that being the place where consumers go to watch it will be a major boost for its first direct-to-consumer streaming service.

New ESPN+ subscribers will be able to subscribe to one year of the service, plus a UFC PPV for a combined price of $79.99. For existing ESPN+ customers — the service has over 2 million subscribers — UFC pay-per-views will cost $59.99 each. (ESPN+ costs $4.99 per month.)

The UFC says it will continue distributing PPV fights to commercial locations, so you don’t have to worry about ESPN ruining your watch parties at the local sports bar. But traditional cable and satellite providers are getting cut out with this new arrangement, which begins on April 13th with UFC 236. “UFC’s digital brands — UFC.TV, UFC.com and UFC App — will continue to serve as a consumer entry point for PPV events,” the UFC said in its press release. The company’s own UFC Fight Pass will continue to stream prelims along with offering replays of old events.

But UFC boss Dana White says ESPN+ will “deliver the best pay-per-view experience ever, with unrivaled access to live fights. You get replays, archives, originals, and so much more. If you are a UFC fan, ESPN+ is a must have.” Disney certainly wants fight fans to reach the same conclusion. The service doesn’t have SportsCenter or marquee shows that air on the ESPN network, instead focusing on live games and originals. ESPN+ offers limited MLB and NHL games, but streams a much larger number of live events from MLS, Grand Slam tennis, Top Rank boxing, PGA Tour golf, college sports, international rugby, cricket, and more. It’s also the only place to find the entire 30 for 30 catalog.

Disney says it “may explore other potential packaging in the months ahead” for ESPN+ and UFC. Remember that Disney+ will be shown to the company’s investors next month ahead of a consumer launch expected later this year. And Disney will have a majority stake in Hulu once its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s assets is finally cleared; that’s expected to happen as early as tomorrow night. So you can envision some combination of ESPN+, UFC pay-per-views, and even Hulu all mixed together in the future.

※ The #1 App for MMA.

All MMA provides you with everything you need to know about the world of men and women’s MMA including fights, results, videos, news, rankings and much, much more! Organisations include UFC, Bellator and One Championship. Have all the information from all the major organisations at the palm of your hand.

Main Features of All MMA include:

✔ Get minute by minute updates during live fights including fight commentary, results and stats.
✔ Home screen displaying the latest news, upcoming event, latest videos, featured players, latest galleries and more.
✔ Watch all the major fight highlights, pre and post-fight interviews and personalised content for the MMA fans.
✔ Always get notified about the latest fights, news, videos and galleries.
✔ Have a closer glimpse at our own gallery section and look deep into the action of the fight.
✔ Set event reminders for any upcoming events within the app.
✔ Lookup the results for ALL fights and fight stats.
✔ Buy tickets for upcoming events all within the app.
✔ Lookup all you need to know about your favourite fighter including his record and all time stats.
✔ Keep up to date with the latest ESPN rankings.
✔ Do you think you can guess who is going to win? Make your fight prediction and check what others are predicting.
✔ Do you think the fight was boring? Rate the fight and see what other thought about the fight.
✔ Looking for some old school stats? We have a whole archive that goes back to 1993 so that you see how Royce Gracie became a legend in the sport.
✔ Look at the latest social media posts without leaving the app.
✔ Fancy some Joe Rogan MMA podcasts? We have that too!

We will be adding new features to the app and will notify you when they become available in the App Store
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This application is not an official one and is not created by or endorsed by or otherwise related to UFC, One Championship or Bellator. It is created and supported by MMA fans for other supporters of the sport.

We are open for cooperation. You can contact us with any questions or suggestions at our email: ashleyfigueira@gmail.com.